The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi everyone,

I just have a question about my Victor 10-50 changer.

It was working great and then one day the little pad that flips up to push the record off and into the bin stopped flipping up. Now the changer just raises the record up and then lowers it again onto the turntable because the pad doesn't do its thing.

I haven't really looked in there in great detail but I thought it looked like there was a hole in the metal under there where maybe there should be a spring that pulls on it and makes it flip enough to push off the record. I'll look at it next week when I have time but just wondered if anyone had a quick answer for what I should look for. I'm getting tired of changing the records manually since one of the 10-50's selling points is that it does that for you! It was working swell and then all of a sudden it wasn't.

Thanks,

Greg

The 'lift pad' doesn't really push the record off - it is only there to either help stop a record from spinning (as it is being lifted off the platter), or to be out of the way of the record (when a new record is being loaded, and after it has made it to the platter.) Plus as it slows down a spinning record, it helps keep it from shifting one way or the other.

But if you now see that the pad doesn't 'click' and change position anymore... it works via a little pin that sticks out on one side of it, near it's rearward hinge. When the ring goes up and back down, the pin rides along a spring-loaded, stepped lever. The pin should fall off the inner step when the ring is about ¾ of the way up (pad is then 'down' so it is out of the way of the next record being loaded). It will relatch on the lever when the ring has gone back down. Ideally you want it to relatch right when the next record has finally dropped onto the platter. I tweaked the timing on mine by slight bending of the pin. Also a screw or nail might be necessary on the motorboard, under the lift pad, to make sure it is at the right height when at rest.

Sounds like perhaps the pin on yours may have fallen out, or the spring on the lever may have broken or come loose. You can probably see the operation of the pin and lever at the rearward pivot of the lift pad, as the ring is nearing the top. Also make sure the lift pad lever is not hitting the edge of the cutout in the motorboard and interfering with it, I had to trim mine out a little because it was catching on the edge of the motorboard cutout.
The lift pad is easy to remove, just have to remove the lift ring pivot rod and then the whole lift ring + lift pad can be lifted out.

Thanks for the great reply! I did notice that it looked like there was something out of alignment or missing when everything is moving in there and it's not pushing off the record. I'll print out your posting and take a better look at it. If there's a spring it may have fallen off since it was all working fine before. I'll let you know if I get it working again. Thanks!